School wants court to throw out suit from ex-assistant Briggs

Mar. 27, 2013

Former Detroit athletic director Keri Gaither / STEPHEN McGEE/DFP

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Detroit Free Press Sports Writer

Former Detroit Mercy assistant basketball coach Carlos Briggs

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Former Detroit Mercy athletic director Keri Gaither admitted she had an extramarital affair with assistant basketball coach Derek Thomas, but she denied that it created a culture of harassment, that she openly displayed favoritism in the basketball program and that it negatively affected the program.

In a legal response filed March 13 in Wayne County Circuit Court and obtained by the Free Press this week, Gaither and UDM have requested that a lawsuit filed by former UDM basketball assistant Carlos Briggs be dismissed.

Briggs filed a suit Jan. 29 that contended he was defamed and fired after he filed a whistleblower report in August with the school about Gaither and Thomas. Briggs said he became aware of the relationship during the 2009-10 season.

In the legal response, UDM denied Briggs was fired or retaliated against because he filed the whistleblower report. The school contended he was terminated for "legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons," which it did not specify in the legal document.

The school also contended that Briggs' argument that he was fired to keep him from going public about the affair and his alleged mistreatment afterward "defies logic" since his firing "would only serve to make it more likely that he would go public."

On Oct. 31, UDM announced Gaither and Thomas had resigned, effective immediately, to pursue other interests. Briggs was fired the next day.

Briggs is suing UDM, Gaither and Mort Meisner, a media consultant for the school. He seeks damages greater than $25,000, the minimum for a suit in the circuit court.

In his suit, Briggs detailed players listening in on Gaither and Thomas, who are married to other people, having an affair at team hotels. Former basketball players LaMarcus Lowe, Donavan Foster, Brandon Romain and Xavier Keeling told the Free Press in the fall that the behavior of Gaither and Thomas on road trips led them to believe they had an inappropriate relationship.

During trips, according to the suit: "On occasion, players would observe Thomas slip into Gaither's hotel room after the team's curfew, causing the players to leave their rooms to go stand outside the door to Gaither's room, giggling while they listened to the sounds of Gaither and Thomas apparently having sex."

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The suit alleged that complaints from "outraged" parents followed, and Gaither "instituted an unwritten policy of openly showing favoritism" to players "keeping quiet about her sexual relationship. ... Gaither's policy of favoritism and unfair punishment caused dissension within the basketball program."

In the response, Gaither denied all those allegations and also denied "that any action that she took with respect to the plaintiff was for Gaither's own self interest." Gaither admitted that Briggs told her he was aware of her extramarital affair but denied allegations that she undermined Briggs' recruiting activities by rejecting prospects brought on by Briggs in favor of candidates preferred by Thomas. Gaither also denied she showed favoritism to players to keep them quiet about the affair or treated players unfairly or dismissed players from the team because they might speak out or reveal the relationship.

Briggs' suit stated that "prior to the wrongful conduct of the defendants described herein, Briggs had an excellent work record with UDM and a positive professional relationship with Gaither." Gaither and UDM responded by saying they deny the allegations because they are untrue.

Briggs, Gaither and UDM acknowledge that coach Ray McCallum was advised of the Gaither-Thomas relationship. There's no evidence to suggest that McCallum took action on the matter.

"I went through the proper chain of command (McCallum, Gaither and then the university), and they have admitted in the answer that I did so, and I did it because it was the right thing to do and to protect our program and the university," Briggs told the Free Press on Tuesday.

School officials have declined repeatedly to comment, saying UDM could not discuss personnel matters. Gary Lichtman, director of media relations, marketing and public affairs, did not elaborate this week on UDM's legal response.

Briggs' suit also alleged that Meisner worked to slander Briggs. In a response filed separately from Gaither and UDM, Meisner denied all allegations.